Tickets For Two & A Garden For All
by CommanderCorson
Summary: Yuri goes to MC's house to ask him a very important question.


Yuri stood outside the gate of MC's home, holding the two tickets to Dr. Cameron's art gallery in her hands. She was thinking of how she was possibly going to work up the courage to ask him to go with her.

Breathing in, Yuri opened the gate. Holding her breath, she marched directly up to MC's front door. She finally exhaled, as she pressed his doorbell and waited for her friend to answer the door.

Yuri waited, and the longer she waited the more anxious she felt. She was worried she'd make a fool of herself at the gallery, or on the way there. Or what if MC didn't even want to go with her, why would he want to spend anymore time with than he had to? Feeling downcast, Yuri put the tickets back into her purse and turned around to begin her walk home.

"Hey Yuri!" Yuri jumped a bit as MC rounded the corner of his house. "Sorry if I kept you waiting, I was in the back tending to the garden. What's up?"

In a fluster Yuri quickly responded to MC. "H-Hello MC!" Looking off to the side to try and gather her thoughts, Yuri began to rub her hair.

Not wanting to rush her, MC patiently waited for his friend to continue as he removed his gardening gloves and wiped some sweat from his brow.

Looking back up towards MC Yuri began speaking again. "I-I didn't know you l-liked to garden."

"Oh yeah." MC said as he put his gloves in the back pocket of his jeans. "I've been gardening for years, before my mom had to move to Tokyo for work we both tended to it together though." MC chucked for a second. "I actually used to be in the gardening club at school."

Looking directly at MC now, Yuri had a confused expression on her face. "We have a gardening club?"

"Well..." MC began. "We used to. You see there was a manure incident where some freshman wanted to get back at a teacher for something and they dumped manure all over his desk in the faculty office."

Yuri giggled slightly before stopping herself. "I-I'm sorry, I sh-shouldn't laugh. You lost a club you r-really liked."

MC waves his hand to dismiss her concerns. "Oh Yuri, think nothing of it. I mean sure the club was axed because of what two people who weren't even members did. But there were only three members to begin with, including myself."

MC knelt down for a moment to brush a bit of dirt off of the top of some flowers that were off to his side next to his front porch. "Besides, the school lets me tend to the garden during my study hall, and I have everything here at home too."

Looking back at Yuri, MC continued. "Besides, if the gardening club was still around I may have never met you. So I say it being cancelled was certainly worth that in spades."

Yuri blushed as she brought her hands up to her chest. "T-T-T-Thank you M-MC." Looking at the flowers that MC had just brushed the dirt off of. "W-What kind of flowers are t-those."

"Oh these?" MC said as he pointed towards the flowers. "These are hyacinths. They're my mother's favorite, mine too. They come in all sorts of colors, but purple is my favorite color so I decided to plant some of those up front too."

Yuri's face reddened a bit more after hearing that MC's favorite color was purple. MC was clearly quite passionate about gardening. Curious, she wanted to know more about his hobby. "W-What else i-is in your g-garden?"

MC brought his hand to his chin in thought. "Quite a bit actually. There's the hyacinths of course, but there's also a strawberry patch, some rose bushes, a lemon tree, I was actually just putting in some jasmine flow-"

Yuri walked right up to MC. "You have jasmine flowers?! May I please see them?!"

MC nearly stumbled back in surprise. He had never seen Yuri so forward with, well anything really. He knew that she had more confidence and stuttered less when talking about something she had an interest in, but this was certainly a pleasant surprise.

"O-Oh." Yuri backed up in embarrassment. "I-I shouldn't have invaded your p-personal space." Yuri bowed deeply. "I'm... I'm so s-sorry MC."

Bringing his hands up in a pleading motion, "H-Hey Yuri there's no need for that. In fact I'm flattered."

Yuri looked up towards MC without raising her head. "R-Really?"

"Absolutely, I'm happy that you'd like to see my garden." MC motioned for Yuri to come along. "Here, follow me."

Following MC around to the back of his house on a stone path, the reason Yuri came to see him in the first place came back to her thoughts. How on earth was she going to ask him to go with her to Dr. Cameron's gallery, maybe she should just see his garden and then go home.

"Here we are!" MC said with a flourish.

Looking out onto the garden, Yuri was completely awestruck. The stone path that they were standing on snaked throughout the garden, leading up to a concrete deck complete with patio furniture and a pitcher of liquid sitting on the center of a parasoul covered table. Looking back towards the garden, Yuri could see the hyacinths MC had mentioned earlier and she could see why they were his favorite. They were so many different brilliant colors, white, red, pink, blue, orange, yellow, and MC's favorite, purple.

Next to the hyacinths was the strawberry patch MC had mentioned, and complete on the vines were plump and ruby red strawberries. Along the fence were rose bushes of all varieties, red, white, yellow, blue, black, purple, green and even some red ones with yellow streaks on them.

Curious about the multi-colored roses, Yuri walked up to them. "H-Hey MC, what kind of r-roses are these?"

"Ah, I thought those would catch your eye Yuri. I'm glad you asked." MC followed Yuri to the rose bush. "Those are meteor shower roses, my old man got them as a gift from King Harald V of Norway back when they were just seeds. My mom's really proud of them."

"A-A king?" Yuri was confused, just who were MC's parents?

"Oh, right. I'm sorry Yuri, I should have realized how confusing that would sound to someone." MC motioned for Yuri to follow him to the patio. Taking a seat next to the patio table, MC began to explain.

"You see Yuri, my father became the Secretary of State a few years ago after President Benford got elected. From what my dad told me he was chosen because not only had he been the Ambassador to Japan for over a decade, but President Benford didn't really have that many people willing to work with him that he could trust with such an important position as that." MC picked up the pitcher that Yuri had noticed when they first entered the garden. "Would you like some lemonade?"

Yuri generally didn't like sweet drinks, but judging from the lemon tree in the center of the garden, MC had probably freshly squeezed it and she didn't want to be rude. "Y-Yes please."

Pouring her a glass and then one for himself, MC continued. "I'm not sure how familiar you are with American politics, but my dad has been working for the State Department for as long as I've been alive, longer in fact. He met my mom here back when he was just a senior staff member at the embassy."

Listening intently, Yuri took a sip of MC's lemonade and was quite impressed with both his life story and his lemonade making skills. "S-So you're h-half A-American?" Yuri asked. Before squeaking out a compliment. "T-This is v-very good, b-by the way."

"Thank you Yuri." MC smiled and nodded. "And yes, I am. My mother was working for the Public Prosecutor's Office at the time, and still is albeit in a much higher position now, when she met my dad."

Looking into his lemonade, MC continued. "After they got married my folks moved back to the States for a few years and had me. Before I was born though my father got elected to Congress and when I was four he was appointed the ambassadorship to Japan by President Bush." MC paused for a moment in thought. "The second one."

Yuri thought how strange it was that America had two presidents named Bush, but then asked. "D-Do you miss A-America?"

MC rocked his head back and forth in what looked like an effort to shake the answer free from his mind. "Not really." He eventually said. "I mean I don't remember much. Besides, all of my dearest friends are here."

Yuri smiled to herself, glad to hear that MC was happy here. "Th-That's good, I'm glad you like it h-here."

"So am I Yuri, though since I was born in the U.S. I guess I can run for President one day." MC said with a chuckle.

Yuri chuckled too, and the two friends both drank from their lemonade glasses while there was a lapse in the conversation.

"Oh, right." MC said as he swallowed some of his drink. "Funny story about the lemon tree. When my dad became ambassador he presented Prime Minister Koizumi with a glass decanter of lemonade."

Before Yuri could even ask, MC answered her question. "I know, why lemonade. Well apparently when Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Japan in 1853 and broke the country's isolation during the Sakoku period. Perry presented Japanese officials with lemonade and other American goods to convince them to open the country up to foreign trade. So as a thank you and a return gift, the Prime Minister gave my father a small lemon tree." MC looked back towards the lemon tree. "Oh and apparently the name of that Ramune soda is a transliteration of the English word for lemonade, and the original recipe was an attempt to remake lemonade."

"W-Wow." Yuri couldn't believe that a lemon tree could have such a story to it. "MC y-you're quite the c-curiosity."

MC turned back to Yuri with a quizzical look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"O-Oh... Um..." Yuri was afraid that she had offended MC, and now she was beginning to lock up.

"Don't worry Yuri, I'm not offended." MC said as if he had read Yuri's mind. "I'm just..." He chuckled before continuing. "Curious I guess, no pun intended.

"O-Okay." Yuri said as she calmed down. "I-I just mean that y-you have such a f-fascinating life story." Yuri looked out towards the garden. "A lot more i-interesting than mine."

"I don't think so." MC replied while looking directly at Yuri.

"H-Huh?" Yuri turned back towards MC. "Bu-But..."  
"Sure, I don't know nearly as much about you as I'd like to Yuri, but I think..." MC paused. "No... I know you're a wonderful woman."

Yuri was flattered. "N-No one's ever said anything s-so nice to m-me before."

Getting up out of his chair, MC responded. "Well they really should, because you're a great person Yuri, and an even greater friend." MC motioned over his shoulder. "Here, I never showed you the jasmine flowers."

Yuri smiled brightly, particularly due to MC's kind words but also because of the jasmine flowers. Standing up and following MC, Yuri gasped as the flowers came within her vision.

They were perfectly white, had she been writing about them she would describe them as pure as the driven snow. With seven petals on each flower she gently leaned down and brought one up to her nose. Breathing in she took in that aroma she loved so much. It was very different coming directly from the flower instead of from her diffuser, but she still recognized the scent and felt herself subconsciously relax.

Seeing that she clearly liked them, MC made an offer to Yuri. "Would you like to take some home?"

Yuri gasped in excitement. "Really?! I'd love to!"

"Now where did I put my clippers." MC said as he felt his back pocket.

"Don't worry MC, I can take care of it." Yuri replied as she took out a folding knife from her pocket.

"Ah!" MC said in surprise as Yuri unfolded her blade.

As she cut the stalk off Yuri felt anxiety raise in her breast once again. 'Oh no.' She thought to herself. 'He's going to think I'm a freak for having a knife like this on me. I got too excited because of the flowers, I should have just let him get his clippers.'

"I-I'm sorry MC, a-a girl l-like me s-s-s-shouldn't have s-something like this." Yuri said in shame as she closed her knife and slid it back into her pocket.

"What are you talking about Yuri?" MC said as he tilted his head to the side. "I was just surprised, I've never seen a knife so intricately and delicately carved is all."

Yuri looked back up towards MC in astonishment. "R-Really?"

"Of course." MC replied. "If anything I'm happy that you have something to defend yourself with."

Rubbing her hair between her fingers again, Yuri fidgeted out a response. "S-So you don't think I'm w-weird?"

MC laughed. "Yuri, I just talked to you for five minutes about nothing but lemons and my family history. If anyone's weird here it's me."

Yuri laughed a little bit too. "I-I don't think y-you're weird MC." Looking down at her feet and then up towards MC again. "I-In fact, I-I think you're quite c-c-charming."

Surprised by the sudden compliment MC rubbed the back of his neck. "Aww thanks Yuri, you're making me blush."

Feeling herself blush from his comment and the fact that she was even able to say that to begin with, Yuri stood there a moment before noticing the time on a clock on the wall above MC's patio. "Oh my! I-I should really be getting b-back home, I-I need to make d-dinner tonight."

"Certainly Yuri." MC said as he put his gardening gloves onto one of the patio chairs, picked up Yuri's purse, handed it to her, and began to lead her out towards the front gate. While they walked, Yuri delicately placed the stalk of jasmine flowers into her purse.

Stepping outside of the gate Yuri realized she hadn't accomplished what she had come there to do in the first place. Feeling her heart begin to beat rapidly as she heard MC begin to close the gate, she quickly spun around, dug the tickets out of her purse, and bowed deeply as she held the two tickets outstretched in front of her towards MC and the gate. "W-W-W-Would you l-like to g-go to an a-a-art gallery with m-m-m-m-me?"

Looking up slowly Yuri saw that the gate was closed and MC was nowhere to be seen, feeling an intense pain in her chest as she stood there embarrassed, Yuri felt like she was going to cry. Until she felt a gentle hand take one of the tickets from between her fingers.

"H-Huh!?" Yuri looked up to her side to see MC reading one of the tickets.

"Absolutely Yuri, I'd love to go to this gallery with you." MC said as Yuri looked back between the gate and MC a few times.

"W-When did you..." Yuri began before MC cut her off.

"Wait." MC said before smiling with a sad look on his face. "Did you really think I wasn't going to walk you home?"

Yuri stood back up straight. "W-Well, I don't want t-to i-impose..."

MC puffed out a breath of air at Yuri's comment. "Impose? Nonsense Yuri, nothing you ever want or did could possibly be any imposition to me."

Yuri felt her heart flutter as she gently felt her wrists below her cream colored sweater. "T-Thank you MC, y-you're really n-nice."

"Thanks Yuri." MC said as he looked out to the street. "Are you ready to walk home."

Yuri smiled wider than she thought she ever could. "Yes, absolutely!"


End file.
